Thursday, April 20, 2017

Piece in the Thornton Heath Chronicle

If
you’ve driven along Beddington Lane recently to go to Asda or
Wickes, you might have noticed a huge construction site which
dominates the nature reserve known as Beddington Farmlands. Some
describe the construct as an Energy from Waste plant. I prefer to
call it an incinerator, as does the Environment Agency who issued a
permit for incineration
to Viridor, the waste contractor that won the £1billion contract to
operate the site.

The
incinerator will burn all the domestic, commercial and industrial
rubbish that is collected in Croydon, Sutton, Kingston and Merton and
beyond for 25 years. This includes any recyclables which end up in
black bin bags.

In
2018, when the site becomes operational, an off white gas will be
spewing out from its twin 100m chimneys. Much of the gas is water
vapour, but even Viridor’s own Air
Quality and Human Health Assessment
report identifies nitrogen oxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide,
arsenic, mercury, lead and carbon monoxide as air pollutants within
the plume.

Furthermore,
the prevailing SOUTH westerly winds mean much of the air pollutants
and harmful ultrafine particles will be dumped over Thornton Heath.

Barely
a week goes by without another fact about air pollution. The latest
statistic is 40,000 people die prematurely due to dirty air. What if
it was dirty water??

You
may be asking was there any attempt to stop the incinerator? Well
over the last 8.5 years a number of us battled hard, risking arrest
at times, but sadly in 2013 a High Court challenge I led was
defeated.

Nevertheless,
action continues and a protest is planned for May 10th
2017. For more information please visit stoptheincinerator.co.uk or
search Stop the South London
Incinerator in Facebook.